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Spokesman for Liberal Foreign Policy visits India

Dr. Rainer Stinner addressing the partners of FNF
Dr. Rainer Stinner addressing the partners of FNF Dr. Rainer Stinner, the Foreign Policy Spokesman of the Free Democratic Party group in the German parliament, visited India for a week at the beginning of August. Visiting Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi, he met a wide array of people from government, politics, civil society and business to learn about recent developments in India as well as discussing areas of joint concern such as regional security issues. With Germany being heavily engaged in Afghanistan, both militarily and in terms of aid assistance, understanding the perspective of the region is of key importance.

During his stay he was also introduced to the work of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation in South Asia in strengthening market-based economic development, participatory democracy, rule of law and human rights protection as well as regional dialogue initiatives to mitigate conflicts. Experts in the fields provided a civil society perspective on the current developments in Indian democracy, the challenges and prospects for the Indian economy and the complexities of the situation in Kashmir.

While Indian democracy has many feathers in its cap given sixty three years of stability, there are many areas where it still needs to be made inclusive, transparent and accountable. India’s path towards economic reforms started many years ago, its potential to pull millions out of poverty needs to be unleashed. For our partners and supporters, Dr. Stinner’s inputs helped clarify the dilemmas facing Germany and Europe and the resultant political decisions. As the foreign policy spokesman of a party that holds both the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for Development Co-operation, such an effort to understand current Indian views and perspectives is a significant contribution to the evolving partnership between India and Germany.

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